Saturday, March 19, 2005

MARTIN: THE SOLO PROTEST WARRIOR

The meaning of my given name is given! ;) Time for a solo counter-protest in the sign of the war god! I will upload a picture from the demonstration later on today. In the meantime, read the following articles:

To mark the second anniversary of the U.S.-led war in Iraq on March 19, various anti-war groups are planning to protest in Fayetteville, N.C., the home of Fort Bragg. It's not the protest, but the location that has some people upset. ...

"The anti-war protesters say they support the troops. They can say it until they are blue in the face, but that's a hollow sentiment when they're protesting the busloads of troops coming and going from Bragg to Iraq every day," Operation Truth's Rieckhoff said. (CNSNews.com, 03/17/05.)

UPDATE 03/20/05:Over at my other blog, Lukeion, I am asking a question about the numbers of demonstrators reported in the Swedish media, compared with the foreign newspapers. The local newspaper in Gothenburg reports that 2,000 were demonstrating in the city, but the foreign newspapers mention much smaller figures. After you have looked at the photos, how big is the crowd do you think? The pictures were taken only a few minutes before the march started. I heard the organizer shouted: "Walk 6 people in a row!" It could be the case that more protestors were joining the anti-American demonstration later on, after they had marched down the Avenue. Here is an excerpt from Janelle Stecklein's article, Thousands March Against Iraq War. Fewer Turn Out for Rallies Than in 2003.

Hundreds also turned out in Sweden and Norway.

"I think it's important to show that we still care about this," said Linn Majuri, 15, a member of the environmental organization Green Youth in Stockholm. "People have become apathetic about this, it's no longer something they walk around thinking about every day." (The Washington Post / Associated Press, 03/20/05.)

Away from the main stage, anti-war activists traded barbs with a handful of pro-war advocates while police patrolled the area between the two fenced-off groups. "Good job being a tool for the government," shouted one protestor. A pro-war activist responded by silently holding aloft a copy of Ayn Rand’s Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal. (Columbia Spectator, 03/21/05.)